Cinnamon Fudge Birthday Cake
by cinders44
Summary: Here is my CSSV project for nerdyhuntress! Killian decides to make Emma a birthday cake! Set between S6 and S7.


_**A/N: Happy Valentines Day nerdyhuntress! I'm your Captain Swan Secret Valentine! I really enjoyed getting to know you the past few days and hope that we can continue to be friends! This is a little story that is set on Emma's first birthday after the S6 finale. I really hope you like you gift! (BTW this is an actual recipe for a real cake, if anyone ever gets the urge to make it. You can find it by googling Land O Lakes Cinnamon Fudge Birthday Cake. It should be the first thing that pops up.)**_

* * *

 **2 cups all-purpose flour**

 _What the hell does_ all purpose _mean? Can I use it to sharpen my hook?_

 **1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa**

 **1 teaspoon baking soda**

 _Soda? Like that bubbly brown drink Henry loves so much?_

 **1/2 teaspoon salt**

 **1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon**

 **1 3/4 cups sugar**

 **1/2 cup butter softened**

 **1/3 cup vegetable oil**

 _How does one oil vegetables? At least there are_ some _vegetables in this recipe. My Swan will not get scurvy on my watch._

 **1 large egg**

 ** _What makes an egg large?_**

 **1 tablespoon vanilla**

 **1 cup buttermilk**

 _Does that mean putting butter into a bottle of milk? Gross._

 **3/4 cup hot coffee**

 **FILLING & FROSTING**

 **4 (1-ounce) squares semi-sweet baking chocolate**

 **1 pint (2 cups) Heavy Whipping Cream**

 _Heavy? So, I need to weigh all the different creams?_

 **1 tablespoon butter**

 **1 tablespoon light corn syrup**

 _Corn? Like that stuff that got stuck in between my teeth the time Dave grilled last summer?_

 **1/4 cup powdered sugar**

 **1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon**

 **STEP 1**

 **Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 2 (9-inch) cake pans; line bottom of pans with parchment or waxed paper; set aside.**

 _Waxed paper? Do I need to get a candle and drip wax on a paper?_

 **STEP 2**

 **Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in bowl; set aside.**

 **STEP 3**

 **Combine sugar, 1/2 cup butter and oil in bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Continue beating, adding egg and vanilla, until well mixed. Gradually add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk and coffee, beating at low speed until well mixed.**

 **STEP 4**

 **Spoon batter evenly into prepared pans. Bake 30-32 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pans. Cool completely. Remove parchment paper.**

 **STEP 5**

 **Combine chocolate, 1/2 cup whipping cream, 1 tablespoon butter and corn syrup in saucepan. Cook over medium heat until chocolate is melted. Refrigerate 1 hour or until thickened.**

 **STEP 6**

 **Beat remaining 1 1/2 cups whipping cream in bowl at high speed until soft peaks form. Add powdered sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon; continue beating until stiff peaks form.**

 **STEP 7**

 **Place 1 cake layer on serving plate. Spread chocolate mixture over cake layer. Spread 1 cup whipped cream mixture over chocolate mixture. Top with remaining cake layer; frost with remaining whipped cream mixture. Store refrigerated.**

When Killian got the idea to make Emma a birthday cake, he thought it wouldn't be quite this complicated. He read and reread the recipe, but after about the tenth time the words stopped meaning anything at all and became lines on the page. First, he'd gone through all the different recipes that Belle had gotten him from the library. There had been the traditional vanilla, triple chocolate, something called carrot cake which confused Killian to no end ( _why would anyone want a cake to taste like a carrot?_ ), and about a dozen others. Once he saw the recipe for a cake with cinnamon in it, he knew he had to make it for Emma for her birthday.

He wanted to prove to Emma, and the rest of the town, how well he was adjusting to life in Storybrooke. He remembered how to turn on the oven, and where the baking supplies were. He knew how to go grocery shopping for all the ingredients. He'd even arranged for Will Scarlet to get into a bit of "trouble" so the sheriff would have to be out of the house for a few hours while he made his creation.

He'd gone to the grocery store the day before and hidden all of the ingredients in the hardly used tool shed. While he didn't have the greatest track record with keeping things hidden in that particular area, he was hoping that that would be the reason that no one would suspect he had hidden anything out there. When Emma had left, he quickly hung up a banner that happily proclaimed "HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMA!" and inflated the dozen balloons he had picked up, and put the roses he had bought safely far away from where the cooking would be taking place.

All of a sudden, he found himself standing in front of a kitchen table filled with different ingredients and he was baffled. He started to question the resolution he had made to do this by himself. Surely, Granny or someone would be willing to help him. He wanted everything to be perfect for Emma. She deserved a perfect birthday after all of the horrible ones she'd had growing up.

After a minute of staring at the ingredients and looking at the recipe one more time, he moved to the oven and turned it on to what he really hoped was the correct temperature. He grabbed a large bowl from the cabinet where they were kept and became combining the ingredients as the recipe instructed.

After forty minutes, two broken eggs on the floor, a bag of flour spilled in his hair, somehow, and only one burn from the oven, Killian began to rethink his plan again. He was just about to take out his talking phone and call for backup when he heard something outside that made him pause and his heart beat faster. The closing of a car door. Emma was home early.

Without thinking, he ran to the door to prevent her from seeing the complete mess he had made inside.

He slammed the front door shut behind him just as Emma was walking up the driveway. "Swan! You're home early! I mean, you're home!"

He was scrambling and Emma could tell. Killian might have liked to boast that she was an open book to him, but that went two ways. "Did I somehow time travel again?"

"What, love?"

She pointed to his hair and then he remembered that, in his haste, he still had flour covering his hair, turning it gray. "I gotta say, I kind of like it." She tenderly brushed away the flour as best as she could. "What's going on?"

In certain moments, it really hit him how much Emma had grown since he first met her. She knew he was keeping something from her, but she was still looking at him with love and trust. She was totally open with him and that was the greatest gift Killian could ever hope to receive. "Um..." He nervously scratched behind his ear. Emma went to reach for the door handle to let herself into the home, but he quickly pressed his lips to hers in an effort of distraction that quickly got out of hand for the public setting of their front porch.

"Now, why was I here?" Killian asked, dazed by the kiss. Distracted by his own diversion, Killian couldn't stop Emma from walking into the house.

She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the kitchen. The floor was a sticky mess, the counters were coated in a little bit of every single ingredient.

"I'm sorry, love. I had Scarlet fake a call to the sheriff's office so I could have some time alone to make you a proper birthday cake. But, turns out, I am not as skilled at baking as I believed I would be." She had her back to him so he couldn't see her expression. "I just wanted to make this birthday perfect for you."

When she turned around, Emma had a big smile on her face. "I am torn between wanting to laugh at the comedy of this mess, and hug you because this might be one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me. And you yourself have done some unbelievably sweet things." Apparently, she decided to go with a combination of the two because she flung her arms around him and he could feel her laughter shaking her body where it was pressed against his. "I love you." She said when the laughter had stopped.

"I love you, too." He responded.

They broke apart and Emma insisted on helping Killian finish the cake. While he wouldn't let her do any of the actual work, he did let her instruct him while seated in one of the kitchen chairs and after he got her a hot cocoa with cinnamon. It went much more smoothly with Emma helping and the kitchen was soon filled with the smell of chocolate baking. They may have made some extra frosting for _other_ purposes, but most of it did end up on the cake.

Later that night, they met up with everyone else at Granny's with the cake in tow. Granny gave them a somewhat dirty look at bringing their own food into her diner, but Emma soon explained and Granny had a piece herself after dinner.

For the first time in her life, Emma Swan had a perfect birthday, surrounded by family and loved ones.

Baking a cake together became a tradition for birthdays in the Swan-Jones household, and every time someone would have a birthday, the kitchen would be filled with the smell of sweets baking and the sounds of love and laughter.


End file.
